ܟܽܘܪܟܡܳܐ kwrkmʾ kurkmā Crocus sativus
Derivatives and compounds: ܟܘܼܪܟܡܵܢܵܐ kwrkmnʾ kurkmānā saffron- or crocus-coloured; plur. saffron-coloured clothes; ܟܘܼܪܟܡܘܼܬܵܐ kwrkmwtʾ kurkmūṯā saffron colour, yellowness, pallor; ܟܲܪܟܹܡ krkm karkem to make yellow, tinge with saffron; ܡܟܲܪܟܡܲܬܓܘܼܢܵܐ mkrkmtgwnʾ mkarkmaṯgunā saffron-coloured; ܐܹܬܟܲܪܟܲܡ ʾtkrkm etkarkam to become red
MP kurkum [kwlkwm] saffron (CPD 52), in its turn a loanword from OInd. kuṅkuma- saffron, Crocus sativus (Gignoux 1998–1999, 199; Turner 1966, no. 3214; see also Gr. LW κάγκαμον, Hesych.; Lat. LW cancanum, Pliny); NP karkam saffron; a yellow dyeing-root, kurkumān the lot-tree (Steingass 1024); Arm. khrkhum crocus (borrowed from Syriac, according to Hübschmann AG 320, no. 132). Gignoux (personal communication) observes that, according to some scholars (e.g. Laufer 1919, 321) the etymon of the word is doubtful, according to other ones it is Semitic (Assyr. karkuma, Hebr. karkōm, Arab. kurkum); surely a culture word. Note also that, notwithstanding the origin of MP kurkum from OInd. kuṅkuma-, Curcuma and Crocus sativus are different plants: see Laufer 1919, 309 ff. ● kwrkmʾ Pr 7, 17; Cant 4, 14; AS 3, 80, 7; Gal ZDMG 39, 278, 56; Med 49, 19; Bh chr 121, 5; ʿeqārā d-kurkmā curcuma longa BB 897u; Gal ZDMG 39, 302, 9; kwrkmnʾ Geop 46, 3; Dion T 4, 134, 5; Bh Nom 155, 6; kwrkmwtʾ Bh Nom 208, 12; krkm Sev Rhet 135 v. BA, Payne Smith; mkrkmtgwnʾ BB 852, 14; ʾtkrkm Cat Cambr. 686u ◆ LS 346b, Lagarde GA 58, 147; Löw n. 162 and p. 219; Duval index pers. 225